Philia
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Silastic RemovalWell what an awful job this turned out to be.
I had a Kombi restored a while back I had started to restore this Kombi myself but through lack of time (and knowledge) I sent it to be restored.
Before I sent it I purchased all the seals and rubbers and sent them to the restorer and removed all the glue from the door seals including the sliding door seal. This was a messy and awkward job and I replaced them with the new seals I had purchased, knowing that the Kombi was to be repainted I didn't glue the seals in.
Much to my disappointment my original seals I sent were not used on the restoration and the seals of not as good quality were used. Not only that the restorer used silastic and it looked as though the seals had not been bedded properly before the silastic cured. Leaving me with a sliding door that could not be shut easily and only rarely able to be locked.
When I removed part of the seal I discovered the silastic and that is when I started to look for agents to remove cured silastic. On the shelves there is a few agents to remove uncured silastic but cured is a totally different ball game.
The product I found was this:
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Philia
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The gel I imported from USA and I cant believe that quarantine let it in...
It Looks like this:
I bought three containers and I used them all on the sliding door seal.
Firstly I removed the old seal. The seal came out easily the silastic making poor contact with the rubber suggesting that the seal had been put in after the silastic had cured...but there may be other interpretations. I was left with a thick bead of silastic in three of the channels that was several millimetres thick.
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Philia
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The instruction and warning sheet on the gel says wear safety equipment etc and I started with some latex gloves but they dissolved, It also said to apply in a 1/2 inch layer so to the best of my ability I filled the channels.
Next I waited the half hour and tried to get some silastic off, well it removed the surface but then no more so I waited some more (2hrs) but the same deal it removed the surface layer but no more even with the extra time hmmmmmm
It was obviously working but the problem was the thickness of the silastic put on in the first place. As I was unable to do anything else I spent the afternoon scraping the silastic off with sharp pieces of wood and then reapplying the gel....
After 7.5 hrs I managed with a great amount of elbow grease to remove the majority of the silastic.
The gel is water soluble and stops working after you apply water this I did. My hands are now pretty messed up and I have no finger prints and they still lather up in water..... but 10 minutes after I washed the channels I undid the top roller and then undid the bottom roller pushed the new seal in and whammo a door that closes and opens and locks and I don't have bulges of seal out the cracks.. yeehaaaa
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Piratekombi
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Well done Philia! I will try not to comment on the original silastic application (I am not a fan!), but I can appreciate the effort involved in its removal. I am sure this will be a great tutorial for others in a similar situation. 
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The archeress
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Well i am stunned.......what a great job there philia......Amazing what you can do some elbow grease............
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lola
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Good job Philia - do you have your auto entry sorted out yet?
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Philia
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Bugger kind of forgot
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The archeress
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love the greyscale philia....i think i am going to have to play around with my paintshop and see what bonnie looks like in it...
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lola
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| Philia wrote: | | Bugger kind of forgot |
Hah, though a technophile like yourself would have had that as a matter of course!
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The archeress
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LOLA......when are we going to see some photos my dear?....dont be shy..
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lola
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Moi? Shy? Surely you confuse me with someone else, my dear. I'll do some photos shortly, just busy at moment, but rest assured, it will happen.
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